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In their own words…..  Carleton students (first surveyed as winter term frosh in 2002) responded to the following prompt:  Please describe what the process of considering possible majors has been like for you so far. What has made this process difficult at this point? What has made it easy? What do you expect to be difficult or easy about the decision in the long run?

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Participant 102  I consider possible majors to be in disciplines that are interesting to me. For the most part, the course material covered by the major should stimulate my analyzing and processing skills. In my last two terms, it appears that I tend to take classes in the social sciences. However, I don’t know how committed I am to a specific discipline. I think the process of “major shopping” is exciting because I get to try out a variety of subjects.

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Participant 108  Thus far the process of considering majors has been overwhelming to the point where thinking about the decision causes anxiety and panic. Being interested in several different subject areas and trying to fit intro courses and more advanced courses from each of these subject areas into my course load has been the most difficult aspect this far. Having a general idea of what career I’d like to end up in has made choosing a subject area to focus in easier.

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Participant 117  It hasn’t been very difficult because I think I already know what I am going to major in. Since junior year of high school I’ve wanted to major in political science. I think I probably will not change my major.

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Participant 125  The process of choosing a major has been very confusing for me because I don’t really know what I’m interested in. Looking back to high school, I try to see which classes I liked to consider them as possible majors, but I’m not sure if it was just that one class that I liked and not something I would major in. As a freshman, I have to take many left over courses I don’t want to take, I think this impedes my decision-making process because I end up taking classes that don’t interest me. Also, many classes are not available every term, so even with a good draw number the next term, if the class is not available then it doesn’t help. I think I won’t be able to find a major I’m really interested in.

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Participant 120  I have been looking at the courses offered by individual departments and trying to find a department in which I will be happy and satisfied taking most of their offered courses. It is difficult for me to go solely off course descriptions though because I have to consider how good the teachers are in the department. For example, I thought I may pursue English as a major but I took an intro lit class this fall and disliked the material and the professor, thus I am not seriously thinking about English as a major. This process of choosing is extremely difficult for me because I don’t want to ‘mess up’ or make any mistakes – also I am worried about having enough time to complete all requirements and still take classes outside the major. It’s really stressful to not know what you want to major in – or do with the rest of your life.

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Participant 124  A lot of my decision has to do with which major will help me get a good job out of college. Essentially, I’d like to make $ so that I can pay for part of my brother’s education and also help out my parents in paying debt/mortgage, etc. I’d like to major in a concrete field, economics, math. I feel that I need to because these fields would be better suited to the relatively-well-off job I’m seeking. It’d be hard to major in something like Asian studies for the same reason.

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Participant 135  I came to college with a pretty good idea of what I want my major to be, this is partially to give myself more direction and partially to satisfy my parents who are concerned about me being “one of those useless liberal arts majors” (they are both chemists). Back in high school I wanted to be a history major. That was vetoed by my mother and I chose something pretty darn close but such that it would not antagonize my mother, International Relations. Now that I have started college and actually took an IR class and classes in other disciplines as well, I don’t really know for a fact what I want to major in, but for now will keep saying that it’s IR.

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Participant 144  I haven’t thought that much about my major so far just because I feel that it’s not that important. I’ll ultimately end up doing whatever I feel is right for me so when the time comes I’ll go with what feels right.

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Participant 159  I haven’t really seriously thought about a possible major until this term. I had thought about biology because I really enjoy aspects of it, but I’m not good at it. This has been a very tough thing to come to terms with. Once that option was gone, I’ve just been taking classes in things I’m interested in, and I’m finding they could be possible majors because I enjoy them and I am doing well in the course. I think the hardest part coming up will be to decide on which of these things I want to focus and how to possibly work it so I can get a few areas combined into one.

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Some Observations  Wide range of attitudes toward this decision  Wide range of perceived “scope”/future ramifications of this decision  Wide range of levels of confidence in one’s own ability to make this decision without making “mistakes”

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Some Themes  Major = something that provides direction  Major = something that defines identity  Major = something that prepares you for career/future  Major=something you’re good at  Major=something your parents allow/support  Major decision = irrevocable choice  Major decision = something with a right answer

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The college “ major decision ”  Is one some students report finding stressful  For many, is a “ life-framing ” choice  Offers many possibilities  Offers a plethora of potential sources of information  Could be made using a wide variety of criteria  Is on a known timetable

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College students as decision-makers:  Relative novices at important personal decision-making  Actively exploring issues of values, careers, identity  Beginning to possess new cognitive abilities to think in formal and complex ways  Separating own goals from those of parents

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Typical Advice on Making Good Life Decisions  Prioritize your goals and values  List all your options  Gather thorough information about each option with respect to each goal  Select the best option

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Conclusions  Over time, the decision becomes more focussed, with the number of options (but not always the number of criteria) decreasing  Affective reactions to the process become more positive over time  Descriptions of how they go about the process remain fairly stable  From a normative standpoint, they seem to perform rather well

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Take Home Messages for Advisors  Encourage and reassure, perhaps by sharing own story  Confront negative stereotypes of a college major (e.g., it doesn’t completely determine your career, it’s only one aspect of identity, it’s not a narrow tunnel, there’s probably not one true perfect choice)  Suggest ways of managing information overload  Model trust in the process and trust in the student